Sara Greenberger Rafferty

Sara Greenberger Rafferty led Critique/Seminar on Tuesday. She was fresh from a residency at Ox-Bow where she co-taught a class on artistic labor with Michelle Grabner. We started the session with some beers and a short free writing exercise about artistic labor. After reading aloud and discussing some of the participants thoughts on artistic labor, Sara introduced the plan for the evening: we were making a collaborative edition.

We each drew numbers to form the order of our assembly line. Each person got to make one move, one decision, and then pass the piece on to the next person. A flurry of materials and making and two hours later we had 20 or so pieces. As Sara noted, we are often accustomed to working with very specialized and specific tools and materials. Letting go of that specialization, and taking some risks with unfamiliar materials and quick decisions can often be inspiring or invigorating.

About

New York Arts Practicum is a summer arts institute where participants experientially learn to bridge their lives as art students into lives as artists in the world. The program is structured around apprenticeships with mentor artists, a critique seminar where participants produce work without access to their institutional facilities, and site visits to artist workspaces, galleries, and museums. The intensive eight-week program offers participants a structured environment to experience the challenges of life as an artist and demystifies the many ways one can be an artist today.